The 1777 March of the Saratoga Convention Army

The lead elements of the British column of the Convention Army left Worcester, Massachusetts, on November 3rd, 1777.  "We marched to Northborough..." noted Massachusetts Militia Lieutenant Israel Bartlett, without so much as a mention of the town of Shrewsbury, which lay between the two stops.    "This morning we all Draw'd Provisions [in Worcester] to Last to Boston And Set off.  marched Through Susbarry.  At Night We Staid at Northberry" wrote Private David How, noting, but erring on the spelling of both Shrewsbury, and its neighbor Northborough to the east .  Others halted in Shrewsbury overnight, and continued on the following day, Lord Napier noting the town as "Shrewsberry" . [1] German troops passed through a day later.  "Wednesday [November 5th] Shrewsbury and Northboro to Marlborough 23 [miles]" wrote Joshua Pillsbury.  Perhaps the fatigue of two weeks on the road had set in for the diarists of the march.  Even the usually lo...

A goal of this blog is to find, see and share some of what the Convention Army saw on their 1777 march from Saratoga to Cambridge.  Milestones, markers set at one mile intervals along part of their route, are one such example, and a clue to which roads they took - especially where original sections of those roads have been replaced.  They also revealed to me that for years I had overlooked links to the past just miles from my home. The story of post road milestones in New England is traditionally linked to Benjamin Franklin, in his role as Deputy Postmaster General.  According to many accounts, in 1767 he personally placed red sandstone markers at one mile intervals along what is known as the Upper Post Road from Boston through Springfield, to New York City.  Typical is this one pictured, located in Brookfield, Massachusetts, 65 miles west of Boston. The problem with this legend is that in what I've read to date, no primary source is cited to link Franklin or the 176...